As turnout shows, democracy not running on all cylinders

By Mike McHugh / The Daily News

Published: Friday, November 16, 2012 at 08:41 PM.

Remember scoring a 50 on a school exam and seeing that large, red “F” staring back at you?

While missing half the answers on a test would give anyone some heartburn, collecting ballots from slightly more than half of the eligible voters elicited shouts of glee from election officials in Onslow County.

Fifty-two percent of registered voters in Onslow County cast ballots in the recent presidential election — in which President Barack Obama defeated Gov. Mitt Romney handily — causing Board of Elections Director Rose Whitehurst to remark that the turnout was “phenomenal.”

American author Gore Vidal said “half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for president. One hopes it is the same half.”

He was rightly concerned. Only someone who doesn’t keep up with current events could fail to see the importance of voting and waste their chance to reward elected officials who are doing a good job with a second term or toss out those who fail to faithfully represent the people.

What does that turnout number tell us about our society? It tells me we have about half the adult population willing and expecting to the other half to do the heavy lifting. Exercising one’s franchise is the most important thing a citizen of the United States can do. It is a privilege coveted by practically everyone in the world where free and open elections are conducted.

“A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election,” opined American author Bill Vaughan. Most of us residing in Eastern North Carolina can attest to Vaughan’s observation from first-hand experiences with watching young men and women deploy around the globe. They serve to protect and defend our Constitution and way of life.

So where is the shame with those who thumb their nose at the political scene and say their one vote doesn’t matter? Tell that to those in the Romney camp, where they were defeated in battleground states such as Ohio by 103,481 votes and neighboring Pennsylvania by 287,865.

And what does it say to the registered Republicans in Philadelphia where, according the Philadelphia Inquirer, 59 polling divisions failed to have one vote cast for Romney. The vote from those 59 places totaled 19,605 votes for Obama and zero for Romney.

I can’t process how every Republican in those parts of Philly stayed at home. Was it because of voter apathy for the Romney-Ryan ticket or was it caused by intimidation and fear among the outnumbered registered Republicans. I now wonder if presence of New Black Panther Party members at the polls was to ensure everyone’s chance to vote or deny those who they felt were the opposition.

Regardless, Romney and Ryan lost because registered Republicans didn’t show up — for whatever reason — to vote.

And it wasn’t as though Election Day came as a surprise — even to the most disengaged non-voters. North Carolina has early voting that began amid much fanfare on Oct. 18 allowing people to not only cast ballots but also register to vote. Those 15 days of early voting plus the 13 hours the polls were open on Election Day provided those who wished to fulfill their civic duty ample opportunity to do so — whether they were there to ratify or reconstitute their government.

More than half the United States has some sort of early voting and in many areas it is called “No Excuse Voting” — a fitting name.

I have neither the sympathy nor the understanding to imagine what keeps a voter from the polls.

Nationwide, an astonishing three million fewer Republican voters showed up at the polls to cast their votes on Nov. 6 than went to the polls in the 2008 presidential election.

As media executive Andrew Lack expressed, “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”

President Obama won the national popular vote unofficially by 3,369,079. In Onslow County, Gov. Mitt Romney garnered 13,580 more votes than did the president. Overall in the state, Romney narrowly defeated Obama by more than 97,000 votes.

When the dust settled the day after Election Day, with results showing President Obama had been re-elected, life moved forward. For me, the sun still rose in the east, and I drove from Swansboro into Jacksonville and performed my job at the newspaper as I have for the past eight years.

Later that day, I spoke with a general manager at a local auto dealership. Politically, he and I are in the same camp. He said to me: “Mike, all we can do is continue to work and maintain control over things that matter most like our families and our personal well-being.”

I agree, but I also think it is imperative to somehow make many more Americans aware of how their elected officials are performing. At some point, we all gripe about politicians but as this last election showed, only a little more than half of us expended the energy to vote. More citizens need to become engaged in the political process.

In less than four years, this country will have another presidential election. Who will show up for that one?

I believe we need to heed the words of 20th century American novelist Louis L’Amour, who quipped, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”

Swansboro resident Mike McHugh is an advertising account executive with The Daily News. Readers can email him at mike.mchugh@jdnews.com.

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Remember scoring a 50 on a school exam and seeing that large, red “F” staring back at you?

While missing half the answers on a test would give anyone some heartburn, collecting ballots from slightly more than half of the eligible voters elicited shouts of glee from election officials in Onslow County.

Fifty-two percent of registered voters in Onslow County cast ballots in the recent presidential election — in which President Barack Obama defeated Gov. Mitt Romney handily — causing Board of Elections Director Rose Whitehurst to remark that the turnout was “phenomenal.”

American author Gore Vidal said “half of the American people never read a newspaper. Half never voted for president. One hopes it is the same half.”

He was rightly concerned. Only someone who doesn’t keep up with current events could fail to see the importance of voting and waste their chance to reward elected officials who are doing a good job with a second term or toss out those who fail to faithfully represent the people.

What does that turnout number tell us about our society? It tells me we have about half the adult population willing and expecting to the other half to do the heavy lifting. Exercising one’s franchise is the most important thing a citizen of the United States can do. It is a privilege coveted by practically everyone in the world where free and open elections are conducted.

“A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won’t cross the street to vote in a national election,” opined American author Bill Vaughan. Most of us residing in Eastern North Carolina can attest to Vaughan’s observation from first-hand experiences with watching young men and women deploy around the globe. They serve to protect and defend our Constitution and way of life.

So where is the shame with those who thumb their nose at the political scene and say their one vote doesn’t matter? Tell that to those in the Romney camp, where they were defeated in battleground states such as Ohio by 103,481 votes and neighboring Pennsylvania by 287,865.

And what does it say to the registered Republicans in Philadelphia where, according the Philadelphia Inquirer, 59 polling divisions failed to have one vote cast for Romney. The vote from those 59 places totaled 19,605 votes for Obama and zero for Romney.

I can’t process how every Republican in those parts of Philly stayed at home. Was it because of voter apathy for the Romney-Ryan ticket or was it caused by intimidation and fear among the outnumbered registered Republicans. I now wonder if presence of New Black Panther Party members at the polls was to ensure everyone’s chance to vote or deny those who they felt were the opposition.

Regardless, Romney and Ryan lost because registered Republicans didn’t show up — for whatever reason — to vote.

And it wasn’t as though Election Day came as a surprise — even to the most disengaged non-voters. North Carolina has early voting that began amid much fanfare on Oct. 18 allowing people to not only cast ballots but also register to vote. Those 15 days of early voting plus the 13 hours the polls were open on Election Day provided those who wished to fulfill their civic duty ample opportunity to do so — whether they were there to ratify or reconstitute their government.

More than half the United States has some sort of early voting and in many areas it is called “No Excuse Voting” — a fitting name.

I have neither the sympathy nor the understanding to imagine what keeps a voter from the polls.

Nationwide, an astonishing three million fewer Republican voters showed up at the polls to cast their votes on Nov. 6 than went to the polls in the 2008 presidential election.

As media executive Andrew Lack expressed, “Bad officials are elected by good citizens who do not vote.”

President Obama won the national popular vote unofficially by 3,369,079. In Onslow County, Gov. Mitt Romney garnered 13,580 more votes than did the president. Overall in the state, Romney narrowly defeated Obama by more than 97,000 votes.

When the dust settled the day after Election Day, with results showing President Obama had been re-elected, life moved forward. For me, the sun still rose in the east, and I drove from Swansboro into Jacksonville and performed my job at the newspaper as I have for the past eight years.

Later that day, I spoke with a general manager at a local auto dealership. Politically, he and I are in the same camp. He said to me: “Mike, all we can do is continue to work and maintain control over things that matter most like our families and our personal well-being.”

I agree, but I also think it is imperative to somehow make many more Americans aware of how their elected officials are performing. At some point, we all gripe about politicians but as this last election showed, only a little more than half of us expended the energy to vote. More citizens need to become engaged in the political process.

In less than four years, this country will have another presidential election. Who will show up for that one?

I believe we need to heed the words of 20th century American novelist Louis L’Amour, who quipped, “To make democracy work, we must be a nation of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote has no right to complain.”

Swansboro resident Mike McHugh is an advertising account executive with The Daily News. Readers can email him at mike.mchugh@jdnews.com.